Many people ask us all of the time about the scrap prices. Whether the market is up, if it is down, or what times during the year do we think that it will be increasing. All of those are great questions but there are hundreds if not thousands of factors that go into figuring it all out. Let’s get into some of main contributing factors to the scrap prices going up and down.
3 Ways Scrap Prices Are Impacted
- Supply vs. Demand. An age old dilemma, the more of something that is available…the cheaper that it generally will be. Take oil for instance. When the prices of oil is very high it will have an impact across all industries. It will be more expensive for trucks to drive, for ships to transport, and for machines to excavate. Those changes in supply vs. demand in the copper and metals market holds true as well. Back in the early to mid 2000’s, the world technology sector was exploding and copper was needed all of the time and you saw copper prices rise.
- Stock Markets. Across the world when the markets are going strong metals and other commodities will be directly tied to these. Since around the year 2003, metals have been traded online and have been similar to stocks for many large investment companies.
- Overseas Development. With many third world countries becoming more and more caught up in the technology swing that has taken over the US, that will have a dramatic affect on the prices. When the large redevelopment of China and India took place around 2005-2008, you saw a massive spike in the demand for copper products for cell phone towers, power lines, and more. This was one factor that helped metal prices increase so high.
There are so many factors to help you learn about the scrap prices that it is impossible to find out. Using tools and websites like the iScrap App will only help you connect with more scrap yards and fellow scrappers to see insight, ideas, and more information about where the scrap prices are going. Whether they are up or down it is always a good thing to know what is going on with the metals markets so you know more and more about scrap and the metal industry.
